Theory and Research in Management Accounting.

Abstract This article focuses on accounting theory and research in management accounting. Commercial and governmental operations are constantly increasing in size, in complexity, and in the number of people affected. It has become essential that simplifying techniques be developed so that human intelligence can plan and control them. Accounting is basically a method of measurement and communication. The importance of both techniques has increased considerably in recent years. Measurement has reached a stature in science such that some believe that unless a process can be measured the study of it can hardly be called scientific. Accounting activities have increased for the most part because the need for records of transactions has become so great, not because of new techniques or research ideas. Soviet Union, for example, in spite of relatively limited interest in accounting theory, has more bookkeepers than the United States. The area that accounting theory usually has emphasized is only a part of the field of the measurement and use of economic values. There are many other aspects of measurement in business and government, such as population counts and the volume of physical trade.